Typewriting machine



1927. Apr! 26 B. c. STICKNEY TYPEWRITING MACHINE Filed July 12, 1924 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 //7 var for Patented Apr. 26, 1927.

UNITED STATES 1,626,124 PATENT OFFICE.

BURNHAM C. STICKNEY, F RUTHERFORD, NEW JERSEY, ASSIGNOR T0 UNDERWOOD mIWRITER COMPANY, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., A GORIPORATION OI DELAWARE.

TYPEWRITIING MACHINE.

Application filed July 12,

This invention relates to improvements in typewriting machines of that type wherein a fan-folded web is designed to be fed along to printing-line position, while permitting manifolding ribbons to be inserted between the plies of the'fan-folded web.

The slittingof the several folds of the fan-folded web is effected before the slitted portions of this web are carried around the platen or between said manifolding ribbons.

The slits are co-extensive with the length of each form printed upon this web.

There is eliminated any tendency of the slitted portions of the fan-folded web from creeping as they are carried around the platen along to the printing line of the ma-' chine, and to the manifolding ribbons stationed at this point. The use of sheets of carbon heretofore usual in fan-fold typewriters is rendered unnecessary, and the same is true of the devices for lifting up the platen to straighten out the work-web preparatory to stripping the usual carbons.

Other features and advantages will hereinafter appear.

' In the accompanying drawings,

Figure 1 is a longitudinal sectional elevation of the invention positioned upon a typewriting machine.

Figure 2 is a top plan view thereof.

Figure 3 is a fragmental view of a web shoyving a knife blade in engagement therewit 1.

Figure 4 is a fragmental view of the ribbon-support.

Figure 5 is a diagrammatic view, showing the manner in hich the alternately opposite folds of the web are slit at the same time.

In the drawings, which are merely illustrative of this invention, A and B designate the sides of a platen-frame of a typewriting machine, such as the Underwood, which is provided with means for carrying a fanfold web C with printed forms thereon to a manifolding device located at the printing line of the machine. A platen-shaft is mounted in suitable bearings upon the frame sides A and ll, and carries platen 11.

12 designates a hand-wheel for rotating the platen. and 13 and 14 designate the front and rear pressure rollers.

A paper-shelf 15 at one end 16 is curved upwardly, while the other end provides a curved downwardly-extending ledge 17 over 1924. Serial No. 725,536.

which the web C is carried. By means of cleats 18, the paper-shelf 15 is operatively' tudinal edges pressed or struck upwardly ina manner to provide upstanding tracks or rails 19 right angular in cross-section. That end of the paper-shelf which is in a plane with the ledge 17 is suitably slit so as to permit the guide-lips 20 to be formed in upstanding relation on the shelf nearer the center thereof than are the tracks or rails 19, these guide-lips permitting the usual width of the web C to be guided along over the shelf 15, as shown particularly in Figure 2.

The type-bars 21 have types 22. which strike through main typewriter ribbon 21. which vibrates in the usual manner adjacent the front side of the platen 11. A pair of plates 23 is positioned upon the upper sides of the platen-frame A and B, respectively, and held in secure position by fasteners 24, and a bar 25 which extends completely across the machine is also secured by fasteners 24 in contact with the plates 23. This bar provides a support which at a medial point is struck upwardly to provide a lug 26, which is preferably inclined, as shown in Figure 1, and has secured thereto the lower end of a shelf-bar 27, which is inclined rearwardly with respect to the front plane of the platen. A paper-gage 28 is slidably mounted upon the shelf-bar 27 and is held in any adjusted position thereupon by means of the thumb-screw 29. This gage carries an abutment 30 against which may be set the free leading ends of the typed portions or plies of the web in a manner and for a purpose well known to those skilled in the art.

Depending downwardly substantially at right angles to the plates 23 are arms 31, which confrontthe opposing ends of the platen 11. Projecting down along the inner sides of the frame port-ions A and B. these arms are formed with terminal hooks 32 around which are held and supported loops 33 formed or secured upon the outer ends of a plurality of typewriter ribbons 34, which ribbons are thus held in alignment so as to llU extend longitudinally across the platen contiguous thereto. These interposed ribbons are mounted on the Underwood letter-feeding platen-carriage and travel therewith.

There is a web-severing knife bar or blade 3') permanently fixed in position immediately over the typewriter ribbons, as shown in Figure 1, being supported at the same inclination as the shelf-bar 27, so as to guide the typed portions of the plies of the web beyond the typewriter ribbons and over the platen onto the shelf-bar 27, whereupon the web may be measured to a predetermined length and then drawn over the knife edge of the bar and severed from the untyped portion of the web. The knife bar is provided with ears 36, which are secured by fasteners 37 to the arms 31 of the plates Positioned for slidable engagement with the rails or tracks 19 of the paper-shelf is a fold-slitting and web-looping carriage 38 consisting preferably of a strip extending transversely of the shelf 15 and provided at its opposite ends and at points spaced from the longitudinal edges of the web with grooved wheels or rollers 39, which are suitably mounted upon trunnions ll) secured to the carriage 38, a slidable stop -ll being operatively arran ed to slide upon one of the rails 19 and ocked by means of a thumlr screw 4-3. Brackets 4A- are secured upon the ends of the carriage 38 adjacent the rollers 39 and carry pins upon which are fulcrumed the lever arms 46 which support a pressure bar 48 that extends completely across the effective width of the fan-folded web C, which latter is guided between the u )standing guide-lips 20. Collars 47 on the pins 45 hold the lever arms 46 in proper position upon saidpins. Suitable springs 49, preferably leaf-springs, are provided hav' ing central coils 5O linked over the pins 45, and having terminals fixedly secured to projections 54 secured to the brackets 44 and having their free terminals hooked over the lever arms 46, as shown clearly in Figure 1, and thus urged to apply yieldable tension upon the pressure bar 48. which is preferably formed concave in cross-section throughout its length to avoid injury to the web upon which it presses. the opposing ends of the carriage 38 in a plane with the lever arms 4-6 are a plurality of knives or knife blades 51. which are Secured by fasteners engaging the shanks of these knives, the blades themselves inclining so as to provide two sets of blades arranged vertically in staggered relation and converging toward the center ot' the pressure bar and beyond the inner sides of the guide lips 20 toward the center of shelf 15 to assure that these knives may project into bights or folds, E of theweb C at the required points. A handle 41 is operatively Also secured tosecured to the carriage 38 at 42 by means of which the carriage may be impelled manually up and down the paper-shelf 15, first to slit the folds and then to form a loop in the slitted web.

In operation, the web is carried from its position in a tray beneath the machine (not shown) over the ledge 17 of the paper-shelf 15 between the guide-lips 20, and is also carried around the under side of the platen and inserted with its plies between the typewriter ribbons 34 and then moved through the mouth formed by the knife 35 and adj acent surface of the platen 11 over upon the shelf-bar 27. The length of each form printed on the web C being known, the gage 28 is placed in its proper adjusted position, so as to measure otf this same length prior to the typed printed forms being severed along the knife edge 35. Pressure rollers 13 and 14 hold the web against the platen. The normal position of the slitter is shown in dotted lines immediately in back of the platen where the pressure roller 14: engages the latter in Figure 1.

Now while the tensioning rollers 13 and 14 are holding the web at one point, the slitting knives :ilvproject through the bights E of the web wherever necessary, as shown clearly in Figure 5, some of the knives pro jecting through the folds at one side and others at the other side of the same web to be sure that all of the webs will be slitted simultaneously to separate the plies therefrom. The slitter carriage being thus initially positioned with its knives ready for action, the operative grasps hold of the handle 4-1 and steadily moves the slitter carriage away from the platen until the carriage contacts with the stop 41, at which point the entire length of the printed form thereon has been traversed by the slitting knives 5 1, which, as shown in Figure 3, have slit the edges or bights of the web throughout predator mined lengths. As the slitter carriage travels back during this slitting operation, the pressure bar 4-8 may bear down smoothly under tension upon the web in advance of the knives, thus smoothing the web asthe knives perform their slitting action. and this pressure exerted by the pressure bar 48 is less than the tensioning pressure of the tensioning rollers 13 and 14, so as not to ,prevent the web from being held fast at this located immediately in back of the platen 11.

During the typing of the next form, the slitted loop portion of the web is taken up while the lies advance line by line between the severa typewriter ribbons 34, so that the plies may receive manifold impressions in the usual manner. The loop D is gradually taken up, and thereupon the operation already described is repeated, and while the tensioning rollers 13 and 14 are holding the web still at the point where it engages the stationary inactive platen, the carriage is again moved away from the platen to slit a fresh printed form on the web, etc,

It will be seen from the above description that, during the typing of the several slitted plies of the fan-folded web, the carriage remains stationary, and that during the progressive advancement of the slitted portion of the same during the line-spacing action of the platen n'o creeping of the plies will occur inasmuch as said plies remain interally joined at their folds down to within ii short distance of the printing point.

Variations may be resorted to within the scope of the invention, and portions of the improvements may be used Without others.

Having thus described my invention, 1 claim:

1. In a typewriting machine, as described, the combination of a frame, a platen mounted thereupon, a fan-folded web carried around said platen. means for supporting manifoldin ink ribbons between the Web-plies in front of said platen. a paper-shelf over which said web is fed, said pa er shelf fixed to the platen frame, a pluraitv of knife-blades projecting between the plies of said web, to separate said plies preparatory to threading of the plies between said ribbons. means for maintaining, said knife-blades in slidable relation with said shelf. and means for driving said knife-blades back from the platen to slit the bights of said web.

2. In a typewriting machine, as described. the combination of a frame. a paper-shelf inclining toward and supported upon said frame, a platen mounted in said frame at the foot of said shelf, said paper-shelf fixed to the platen-frame, a fan-folded web being fed down along said shelf, over and around said platen, means for supporting manifolding ink ribbons between the web-plies in front of said platen and nested between the plies of said web, means for moving rearwardly from the platen a plurality of knives to slit the folds of said plies preparatory to threading of the plies between the ribbons, and a friction-device movable with said knives, and engaging said web, and during the return movement of said .knives operating to loop said web in back of said platen.

3. In a typewriting machine, as described,

the combination of a, frame, a shaft therein, a revoluble platen mounted permanently upon said shaft, and against vertical movement, 9. fanfolded web progressively fed under and around the front side of said T platen, a plurality of manifolding strips operatively positioned adjacent said platen, between which the several plies of said web may contact, means movably supported rearwardly of said platen, for slitting the folds of said web during a rearward motion of said means with respect to said platen, and

- web feed upon said shelf under and around said platen, pressure-rollers maintaining tension upon said web, and pressing the latter in engagement with the platen during the fold slitting operation, means engaging the folds of said web, for slitting the same as it moves towards the rear of said shelf, a tension-device movable in unis-on with said slitting means, anddrawing out the web as it moves ,rearwardly of the platen, but effective to carry said Web along to slacken the same immediately in back of the platen as it returns towards said platen, and means for adjustably limiting the rearward move ment of said slitting means.

5. In a typewriting machine having a platen, and a platen-frame, the combination of a manifolding equipment supported on said platen-frame, said'manifolding equipment in the form of means for supporting a set of ink-ribbons between web-plies at the printing line on the platen and in front thereof, a fan-fold web slitting device on the intake side of the platen and immediately in rear thereof, and means to move said slitting device back from the platen independently of saidv manifolding equipment, to slit the folds ofthe web preparatory to the passage of the web through said manifolding equipment.

6. In a typewfiting machine having a platen, and a platen-frame, the combination of a manifolding equipment supported on said platen-frame, said manifolding equipment in the form of means for supporting a set of ink-ribbons between web-plies at the printing line on the platen and in front thereof. a fan-fold web slitting device on the intake side of the platen and immediately in rear thereof. and means to move said slitting device back from the platen independently of said manifolding equipment, to slit the folds of the web preparatory to the passage of the web through said manifolding equipment, and a paper-gripper connected to said slitting device and effective to grip the web in rear of the slitting device and during the return of the slitter to form the web-plies into a loop immediately in rear of the platen.

7. In a typewriting machine, the combina tion with a frame, of a platen revolubly and permanently mounted therein, a papershelf extending toward said platen at the intake side thereof and permanently mounted on said platen-frame, a fan-folded web movable along said shelf under and over said platen, a slitting member slidably engaging said paper-shelf, and having knives projecting between the several folds of said web, said knives effective to slit said folds only as the slitting member moves away from said platen, tensioning means located underneath said platen, and effective to hold the web at this point during the fold-slitting operation, a tensioning device connected to said slitting member for stretching said web during the slitting action of said member, but effective. upon the return of said member, to carry the web along with it, so as to form a loop, immediately in back of said platen, to be taken up by said platen, and a plurality of manifolding strips permanently mounted in front of said platen, through which the slit plies of web are threaded.

8. In a typewriting machine of the kind described, the combination of a platen revolubly mounted therein against independent movement, a fan-folded web movable towards, under and over said platen. means movably projecting between the plies of said Web, normally'stationed immediately in back of said platen, a tensioning device pressing said Web against said platen to hold it against movement, said means drawing said webout as it moves away from said platen, slitting knives carried by said means for severing the plies of said web during the mentioned movement of said means, said means looping the portions of the web slit by it as it returns to normal position, and a device supporting a plurality of aligning ribbons adjacent said platen in advance of said tensioning device, said platen, upon rotating, taking up the looped slit portions of the Web and carrying the'same between said ribbons.

9. In a typewriting mach ne, the combination with a frame, of a platen-shaft mounted therein permanently, a platen on said shaft, a pair of brackets hanging from the opposite sides of said machine and confronting the ends of said platen, a plurality of manifolding strips operatively supported upon said brackets, so as to extend in longitudinal alignment cOntiguous to said platen, a fan-folded web adapted to be actuated by said platen, so as to pass with its plies between said manifolding strips, typing mechanism engaging the manifolding strips against the plies of said web simultaneously, a paper-shelf inclining downwardly, and having its lower end arranged concentrically under said platen, means carried at the rear of said shelf, providing guides for the longitudinal edges of said web, slitting means held in slfdable engagement with sald shelf, and normally positioned immediately to the rear of said platen, said slitting means being manually actuated to move rearwardly of said platen and to slit the folds of said web, tensioning rolls holding said web against movement and in contact with said platen as said slitting means performs its slitting operation, and a Web-looper carried by said slitting means for looping the already slit portions of said web, said platen taking up the slit loop portions of said web, the take-up action of said platen and slit-ting action of said slitting means being alternate.

10. In a device of the kind described, a paper-shelf consisting of a sheet-metal baseplate having its longitudinal edges upstruck .in angle-iron formation to provide. longitudinal tracks, the'rear edge of said baseplate being slit and curved so as to project downwardly, and integral portions stiuck out from the curved rear edge of said baseplate, and providing a pair of guides immediately in back of said tracks, the front portion of said shelf projecting beyond said tracks and being formed arcuate.

11. In a device of the kind described. the combination of a paper-shelf, a carriage rolling thereupon, means for guiding said carriage along a predetermined path upon said shelf, a pressure-bar disposed longitudinally upon said carriage, leverarms supporting the opposite ends of said pressure-bar, means fulcruming said leverarms upon said carriage, and means yieldably exerting spring pressure upon said lever-arms to hold said pressure-bar in frictional tension with said shelf as the carriage moves thereover.

' 12. In a device of the kind described, th combination of a paper-shelf, rails carried longitudinally of. and in spaced-apart relation upon, said shelf, a carriage consisting of a sheet-metal strip extending across said shelf, and carrying rollers engaging said rails, brackets secured to the opposite ends of said carriage, fulcrunrpins secured into said brackets, lever-arms fulcrumed upon said pins, and having outer terminals curving downwardly, the pressure-bar extend ng longitudinally of said carriage, and secured upon said lever-arms, said pressure-bar belng concave in shape throughout its lengfih, and coil-springs secured upon said brackets,

lll)

and having terminal fingers looped over said contact with said platen, a manifolding device carried at the printing line of said platen through which said web is advanceable, over said platen, mechanism for slitting said web rearwardly of said platen, and means controlled by said mechanism for looping the slit port-ions of said web prior to the advancement thereof to said manifolding device.

14. In a typewriting machine, in combination, a platen revolubly mounted therein, a paper-shelf supported under said platen and extending rearwardly therefrom, a mufolded web traversing said shelf lengthwise and engageable by said platen so as to be fed thereover, a plurality of ink-ribbons disposed at the printing line of said platen and having a nested relation with the plies of said web, said'web having its. folds all slit before carried over said platen, a tearingolf knife stationed adjacent said platen immediately above said ink-ribbons, said web being inscribed with a consecutive number of printed forms of equal length, means for manually looping each slit form, said platen picking up said loop and carrying thesame beyond the tearing-off knife for the shearing of the printed form thereby, and means yieldably engaging said web adjacent the tail end of said loop for holding the looped portion of said web against lateral cree mg.

BURNHAM. C. STIOKN 

